Abacos to Chesapeake

[Funkydrum]

Team,

I know weather wi ultimately drive routing, but any tips or observations on moving the boat from Abacos to the Chesapeake in May. Weather-dependent, I’m thinking a straight shot off-shore.

Thoughts ?

[chris mac]

The Gulf stream is your friend, lots of free miles. It turns into a problem when squalls pop up. Which they tend to do in the Gulf stream, usually at night.
So my advice is to keep a close eye on the cape index as well as wind and waves forecasts. Also try to stay near the west edge of the stream. If things turn bad, it's easier to get out of it.
I have done that run twice, well from fort Pierce to cape Lookout. So I can't offer any advice for rounding Hatteras.

[Tin Tin]

With a south wind it is a pretty straight forward run with 2+ knots current assist. Thunderstorms can be nasty especially at night with low vis in blinding rain squalls so make sure your radar and AIS are up to scratch as there is plenty of shipping and fishing vessels. The fishing boats are the worst as they seem to wander all over the place and often turn off their AIS, though they can see you. Don't be shy in calling them up on Ch16 and they will often tell you to maintain your course. If you see a thunderstorm on your radar you can figure out the likely time of arrival. We used to reef when these things came within a few miles as wind could gust to 50 knots+ in a heartbeat. Cape Hatteras seems to have its own micro climate so we try to arrive there in daylight or pull in to Cape Lookout until we can get the timing right.

[Bobby Lex]

Is this trip just business or pleasure, or perhaps both?

If it's simply getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, then of course off-shore with the Gulf Stream seems to be the no-brainer choice.

If you want to stop to smell the roses along the way though, there are plenty of worthwhile things to see and do along the way by doing short and/or long hops along the coast.

Bob